Today we hear St. Paul say, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Is this logical? If one limits logic to a method of reasoning about things and mathematics, based on the insight that a statement and its opposite cannot both be true at the same time, in the same way, then the Apostle Paul’s analysis of his experience in Christ does not seem logical, or reasonable. In fact, however, Paul’s interpretation of his experience is truly logical, but it employs a logic grounded not on things in the external world, but on existence in the in-between reality of divine-human mutual participation.
“What are you saying?” you may wonder. (Or you may not wonder at all.) Our bodies exist in the world of space-time, in the physical world; our souls or minds, or what we can call our “spiritual life,” unfolds in movements taking place between our own mental processes and the unknown God. By “grace” God is present and at work in a soul, but God does not mix with, or become, the human being; man must surrender to God, to divine presence, and yet remains a unique being. The logic of spiritual experience must account for both the reality of human being, and the reality of God. Neither man nor God is an object in the external world. Our thinking, loving, feeling, remembering, perceiving all take place between the world of bodies in motion and the eternal, non-temporal pole which we call “God.”
God’s presence and work in us, and our responses to God, are not “logical” in the sense used by a mathematician or university intellectual. Simply put, we are speaking here of the logic of love: that two can truly love each other, and be one, and yet remain two. To one who has not known love, such a statement makes no sense; to the lover, the paradox of union and uniqueness, of becoming one-and-yet-being-two is his or her continual experience. “But it is not logical,” says one lacking in experience. “But it is reasonable and true,” responds the lover.
The Apostle Paul discovered that when he relied on himself, his own ego, he was spiritually weak; but when out of weaknesses he drew on the presence of the living God at work in him, then he had an inner strength and flowing energy. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The most radical expression of Paul’s logic of spiritual experience remains a classic statement of spiritual experience and truth: “Now I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” In oneself, apart from divine presence, one experiences death; in communion with He Who Is, with Life itself, one experiences true and enduring life; hence, one in Christ struggles between life and death. That is the logic and reality of spiritual experience, whether Christian, Jewish, or Hindu. In self, one perishes; in God, one lives. In self, one is overcome by weakness; in surrendering to divine Presence, one is empowered to love, to do good, to live in truth.
“What are you saying?” you may wonder. (Or you may not wonder at all.) Our bodies exist in the world of space-time, in the physical world; our souls or minds, or what we can call our “spiritual life,” unfolds in movements taking place between our own mental processes and the unknown God. By “grace” God is present and at work in a soul, but God does not mix with, or become, the human being; man must surrender to God, to divine presence, and yet remains a unique being. The logic of spiritual experience must account for both the reality of human being, and the reality of God. Neither man nor God is an object in the external world. Our thinking, loving, feeling, remembering, perceiving all take place between the world of bodies in motion and the eternal, non-temporal pole which we call “God.”
God’s presence and work in us, and our responses to God, are not “logical” in the sense used by a mathematician or university intellectual. Simply put, we are speaking here of the logic of love: that two can truly love each other, and be one, and yet remain two. To one who has not known love, such a statement makes no sense; to the lover, the paradox of union and uniqueness, of becoming one-and-yet-being-two is his or her continual experience. “But it is not logical,” says one lacking in experience. “But it is reasonable and true,” responds the lover.
The Apostle Paul discovered that when he relied on himself, his own ego, he was spiritually weak; but when out of weaknesses he drew on the presence of the living God at work in him, then he had an inner strength and flowing energy. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The most radical expression of Paul’s logic of spiritual experience remains a classic statement of spiritual experience and truth: “Now I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” In oneself, apart from divine presence, one experiences death; in communion with He Who Is, with Life itself, one experiences true and enduring life; hence, one in Christ struggles between life and death. That is the logic and reality of spiritual experience, whether Christian, Jewish, or Hindu. In self, one perishes; in God, one lives. In self, one is overcome by weakness; in surrendering to divine Presence, one is empowered to love, to do good, to live in truth.
